MISSION BREAD LINES
During the winter of 1921-22, twelve of the missions in Chicago, maintained “bread lines,” that is, dispensed food, as coffee and doughnuts, or a bowl of soup and vegetables. The term “bread line,” used figuratively for “free lunch,” originally described the long lines of men during years of want and unemployment waiting outside relief stations for bread and soup.
Missions without “bread lines” claim that the food is given as a bait to get conversions. They hold that “meal ticket” converts lose their religion as soon as they become economically self-sustaining. The unregenerate homeless man looks down upon the regular attendants at the mission, and accuses them of getting converted for “pie card” reasons. He calls them “mission stiffs,” a term as uncomplimentary as for an Indian to be called a “squaw man.”
A FREE LUNCH AT A MISSION
By permission of the Helping Hand Mission